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Afghanistan funeral blast marks end of deadly year

A deadly bomb blast targeted a crowd of mourners during a funeral in east Afghanistan, capping a string of major terror strikes to hit the country in December. The Taliban denied any involvement with the bombing.

While no terror group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, the blast took place in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which is considered a stronghold of the "Islamic State" (IS) militia.

Deadly blasts rock Kabul: Dozens killed

A week before that, IS militants stormed an intelligence training compound in Kabul.

While a total number of civilians deaths in 2017 was not immediately available, the year looks set to become one of the deadliest since the US toppled the Taliban regime in 2001. UN data says over 8,000 civilians were killed in the first nine months of 2017. In 2016, the year-end death toll reached 11,418.